West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1887-11-03

vested, the reader must believe that I am
writing of things ms they honestly looked
TO me. How could | or any one else dis
/ believed There was the nugget. theri
were the papers and relics. and the Eng
liSh Captain knew of the raft and its lone
passenger being picked up 200 miles
/ from any known land. There wasn't
the least difficulty in making others be
hevc, either | think we could have
raised 5000, 600 capital il there had been
need fit. The trouble was to keen
capitalists aud spectators out.
Wheaton had no sooner been rescued
than he asked for the Englishman's la.i-
\ tudc and longitude. Then he figured on
the direction and strength of the wind
and progress of his raft, and he had the
location of his island down TO within
/ five miles. | have had miuers and
/ geo.ogists tell me that no god was ever
/ found in volcanic upheaval from
/ the sea. II not, where did the Captain
! get that big lumpl There Is no gold on
any chartod island in the Pacific. and
he certainly could not hive drftcd TO or
| put oil on his raft from the coast of South
America. 1t is easy enough to sneer at a
story, but not so easy to get around cold
facts.
We had a fine rum to Honolulu, and
remained there for week TO make some
needed repairs and lay in more provisions
and water. Capt. Wheaton there met a
fellow Captain named Bridges who com.
manded New Bedford whaler. and
without suspicion of what he was do
ing this man greatly discouraged us. He
had just come in from a long cruise,
which the chart showed must have taken
him very near the unknown island He
had not sighted it, but the logbook re-
ported that when i'm that neighborhood
something like an earthquake had oc-
CURED. Indeed, one did occur. and a
new island was born 10 the Galapagos
group, The ship rocked violently in
mid-ocean, and a sort of tidal wave came
near being her destruction. Next day
the whaler encountered many green trees
floating about, aud he said to Capt.
Wheaton that he had no doubt some
island had been overwhelmed lie had
no suspicion OF our errdnd, and related
the above simply 'as an adventure. How
ever, from that hour we all lost heart.
Figure as we would we could not shake
OIL the conviction that il was the un.
known island which had been DESTROYED
IN the same manner as il was born
After long and tedious run from the
Sandwich Islands, we finally drew near
the location. Then for days and days
we sailed TO and fro, and at length re-
allied that the island had gone. II WIS
not there, TO enrich us and prove the
CAPITA ms story, but still We found proofs.
We discovered more than one hundred
trees floating about as we slled this
way and that, and after we had given up
all hopes we made still greater find
Iho boat which Wheaton had built and
lost turned up there on that vast expanse
OF sea. 1t was sighted from the mast
head one morning. and two hours later
we had II along idc. IL was water
logged but flolting well enough for all
that, and its find was the stroagest link
in the whole chain. We hois.c her on
board and brought her TO san Francisco
to exhibit 10 the silent stockholders i'm
our enterprise, and that reli was the
only thing we could show them. The
story has been told and rctold among
sailors in various ways, and portions Of il
have been published, bat ! h I've here given
IT entire and correctly for the first time
Officers Of the survey service Of both Eng
ianl and America ha 5c denied that any
such island existed even for month bit
ask the reader, and ! have often asked
myself: g. If not, what land could Capt
Wheaton have reached i'm so short a
time lIe knew every foot of his ISL
and and drew map Of it. No oiherisl-
and would answer the description. He
built boat and we found it. He balt
a raft, and it bore him into the track If
ships. IIc found gold, and ne found and
saved papers aad relic which settled the
fate Of two missing vessels. That island
wa' born in ten seconds when thcbo.tom
OF the sea upLcaycd Why shouldn't it
have been destroyed just as quickly? 1t
Is not the only one which has come and
gone, and the fact Of its remaining until
covered with timber nd vegetation was
no guaranty that it would always re-
main. That's my story gentlemen, and
If you are unsatisied YOU are no worse OF
than your humbl, servant, wIo lost his
all in the venture. - Nan Y0rk sun.